1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lens-fitted film unit with a body-band label.
2. Description of Related Art
There are lens-fitted film units on the market which are inexpensive and make one easily enjoy taking pictures. Such a lens-fitted film unit has a case in which a simple exposure mechanism including a taking lens and a shutter and a roll of film are contained and which is covered with a decorative wrap. The lens-fitted film unit is widely spread because of the convenience that it can be gotten whenever and anywhere wishing to take pictures and is put to a photo-shop as it is for processing and printing, and because the lens-fitted film unit is available at a low price. The lens-fitted film unit typically has a shell comprised of front and rear cover sections between which a base section in which a roll of film and an exposure mechanism are installed is interposed. These base section and covers are made of plastic such as polystyrene. A decorative wrap of the lens-fitted film unit is consists of a paper bag printed with a product name, a proprietary name, logotypes and vignettes thereon.
In recent years, it is a new trend to use body-band labels in place of the decorative wrap. Such a body-band label, which is made of a synthetic paper sheet such as "YUPO" (trade name of Oji Oil & Chemical Co., Ltd.), is tied round and pasted on a shell of the lens-fitted film unit to cover the shell excepting opposite end portions, which is desirable for making the lens-fitted film unit be easily put together and increase tightness between the front and rear cover sections. The lens-fitted film unit covered by the body-band label provides a smaller apparent overall size as compared with the conventional lens-fitted film unit fully covered or wrapped by a paper bag type of wrap.
Meanwhile, it has been hastened to recycle used lens-fitted film units for the purpose of saving natural resources and reducing industrial wastes. Used lens-fitted film units put to photo-shops are sent to a photo-laboratory for processing exposed films. The units with a film withdrawn are collected by the manufacturer and taken apart to pieces or parts. Some pieces are recovered as they are for reuse as parts of lens-fitted film units. The remaining pieces are recycled as raw materials. Specifically, plastic front and rear covers and body-band labels of the lens-fitted film units are melted to provide raw material pellets.
Because polystyrene and the synthetic paper sheet "YUPO" are unfavorable with each other in view of compatibility, in the case where the polystyrene covers and the body-band labels made of synthetic paper sheet "YUPO" are melted together, if the "YUPO" content of a melt mixture is higher than several percent in weight, the polystyrene changes its physical properties and is hard to be recycled as a material for the covers of the lens-fitted film unit. For this reason, it is essential to peel apart the body-band label from the lens-fitted film unit before taking the lens-fitted film unit apart pieces and to melt the polystyrene parts separately from the body-band label, which are always inefficient for recycling processes. This problem is possibly solved by employing a body-band label made of a polystyrene film sheet so as to enable polystyrene parts to be melted together with the body-band label. However, because a polystyrene film sheet is poor in tensile strength as compared with a synthetic paper sheet ("YUPO"), the polystyrene body-band label is possibly torn if the lens-fitted film unit is accidentally dropped down onto a hard surface such as a floor, a road and so forth. A thick polystyrene film sheet is unsuitable for the body-band label for lack of flexibility. Specifically, the body-band label made of thick polystyrene film sheet easily comes off from, in particular, curved part of a shell of the lens-fitted film unit.